In this file photo, Robert Elwood Landis is led by Westtown-East Goshen Police officers into his arraignment at Government Services Center in West Cheste in May of 2013. Landis, 49, of Westtown was charged with homicide by vehicle while DUI in the April 26 death of Liam Crowley. (Digital First Media/ Vinny Tennis)

WEST CHESTER — The driver who fatally struck a 24-year-old motorcyclist while driving drunk on a suspended license last April pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle while DUI and related charges Monday in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas.

Robert Elwood Landis, of Westtown, admitted he was driving while intoxicated on April 26, 2013 when his pickup truck collided with a motorcycle driven by Liam Crowley, a volunteer firefighter, on Route 202 just south of West Chester.

According to investigators, Landis was driving with a blood-alcohol level of .28 percent at the time of the crash. The 50-year-old construction worker was driving on a suspended license while on probation for a 2010 DUI conviction. Prosecutors said Landis drank about 10 shots of whiskey and several beers at a nearby bar before getting behind the wheel of a Dodge 2500 pickup truck.

Monday’s plea marked the eighth time that Landis was convicted of driving under the influence since 1982, according to court records.

“Mr. Landis, that’s almost to the absurdity level, isn’t it? And now it takes a life,” Sarcione said after hearing it was Landis’ eighth DUI.

“It’s horrible your honor,” Landis replied.

Other law enforcement officials also condemned Landis’ record, declaring that it was only matter of time before his habitual drunken driving ultimately led to loss of life.

“Seven times. Each one of those seven times that he drove (drunk), he was someone’s death waiting to happen,” said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan in a press conference held after the plea was entered. “Every single time he got behind the wheel drunk, it was just sheer blind luck that he didn’t kill somebody. And on April 26, 2013, everybody’s luck ran out.”

Crowley’s family was present in the courtroom as the plea was entered. Several members of the Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police Department, who investigated the case, also attended the hearing.

Landis pleaded guilty to a total of three charges, including homicide by vehicle while DUI, driving on a suspended license DUI related, and accidents involving death while not properly licensed.

Landis, who declined to address the court while entering the plea, faces 8 to 17 years in prison as a result of the plea agreement.

Crowley’s family also declined to speak during the hearing, opting instead to address Landis during his sentencing in May. However both of Crowley’s parents spoke during a press conference after the hearing to urge the public to take a stand against society’s tolerance of drunken driving.

“We were in court today to hear Robert Landis plead guilty to his eighth drunk driving offense,” Diane Crowley said. “Due to his unconscionable actions, he is responsible for the death of our son, Liam Crowley. I’m not speaking today to try to tell you what it feels like to lose my son to this senseless tragedy, which I refuse to refer to as an accident. There are no words I can find to adequately describe how it is to live my life with Liam not here, but I do ask that you listen and that you take what I am saying to heart. I’ve stood where you are now, I’ve been the mother who watches the news on TV and reads the papers to hear about how someone’s precious life was destroyed in an instant by events that were nothing more than the byproduct of someone else’s self-indulgent behavior.”

Hogan joined the Crowley family and Westtown-East Goshen Police Chief Brenda Bernot to announce proposed legislation that would stiffen penalties for offenders like Landis. Hogan said current DUI laws do not do enough to punish serial offenders or deter them from getting back behind the wheel.

Current law calls for only a three-year minimum sentence on the homicide by vehicle while DUI charge. The maximum sentence is just 5 to 10 years, Hogan said.

“That is not enough,” Hogan said. “When you have this type of hardcore alcoholic, who does not care, who will get behind the wheel no matter what, the punishment has to be more severe.”

The proposed legislation, which the district attorney’s office sent to the office of state Sen. John C. Rafferty Jr., R-44th of Collegeville, would impose stiff penalties on serial offenders like Landis.

Under the proposed legislation, a three-time DUI offender would face heightened mandatory sentences if they were deemed responsible for a fatal crash while intoxicated. If passed the law would impose a seven-year mandatory minimum sentence for each victim killed, with a maximum sentence of 10-20 years for each victim.

Hogan said some offenders simply don’t care what the potential punishment is. They will continue to get behind the wheel while drunk with little regard for the potential consequences, he said.

The district attorney said the stiffened legislation is needed to allow law enforcement to put those offenders away for longer periods of time.

“So if you have three or more priors and you go out and kill somebody, we are going to come down on you like a load of bricks,” Hogan said. “Why do we do that? One, we’d like to save a few lives. We would like to, maybe, convince a few of those people out there not to get behind the wheel anymore, not to end up killing a young man like Liam Crowley. And if they can’t do that, then our answer is that we will warehouse you. We will protect everyone else on the road by making sure you are not there.”

Hogan said Rafferty indicated that he was “very eager” to work on the legislation.